This week I saw a post from Microsoft Tiger Team on the issues with backup compression and TDE databases. Apparently when they added compression, they didn’t test a few edge cases. Or a few regular cases, like WITH INIT. There is a possibility that your data could be corrupted, which is a major problem. I have found the SQL Server backup and restore capabilities to be very solid over the years, so this is disturbing. If you use TDE, apply SQL 2016 CU7 for RTM or SP1 CU4 ASAP. Test your restores, and be sure you know what you can recover and what you can’t. If Mr. Murphy has anything to say about it, you’ll have an issue soon, so test your restores.

Overall, SQL Server security is very good, but there are certainly issues with applications and devices that connect to SQL Server. You never know when some item that queries or alters data in SQL Server will cause issues. This week there were a couple notes from Bruce Schneier on FaceID and Bluetooth security, the latter of which has a vulnerability issue. Be sure you are aware of issues here to actually help protect yourself with your devices, but I was amazed to see this piece on infrared camera hacking. A POC on using light to jump air gaps is truly frightening. It seems that truly anywhere that we are processing data, we need to be thinking about security.

The last few weeks are especially scary for many people, particularly with the Equifax breach. I know they have released numbers on people’s data, but I’d assume that everyone who has ever had credit in the US has a potential issue. I know I am being careful with credit and watching for issues myself. You should, too, and demand better security from companies you do business with. We can improve systems, but it will take more pressure to get companies to put more emphasis on better software and security.